Cindering device



J. G. WILSONl GINDERlNG DEVICE Filed May 22, 1941 2 Sheets--SheeI l wim.

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Qb\ l Dec. 9, 1941. J, wlLsQN 2,265,882

CINDERING DEVICE Filed May 22, 1941 2 SheetsT-Sheet 2 ZZ z/ c/. MiaouPatented Dec. 9, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CINDERING DEVICE JamesG. Wilson, Weedville, Pa.

Application May 22, 1941, Serial No. 394,706

7 Claims.

This invention relates to a device for cindering the surface in front ofthe driving wheels of a motor vehicle for providing traction for saidwheels when the surface is slippery with ice or snow.

More particularly, it is an aim of the invention to provide a. cinderingdevice adapted to be driven by power take-01T means from the engine ofthe vehicle for intermittently and, alternately discharging the abrasivematerial in front of the driving wheels of the vehicle so that thematerial will be discharged in suflicient quantities to afford ampletraction while at the same time a minimum of the abrasive material isbeing utilized.

Still another aim of the invention is to provide a cindering deviceincluding a tank or hopper which is adapted to be built in to a motorvehicle and to be disposed against and above the rear end of the vehicleengine so that the contents of the hopper will be heated and kept dryand in proper condition for use.

Another object of the invention is to provide a cindering device havingmeans for heating the outletends of the cinder conveying conduit bymeans of the hot water from the cooling system of the vehicle to preventthe accumulation of ice or snow thereon.

Still a further aim of the invention is to provide power take-ofi meansof simple construction adapted to be manually controlled by means of aclutch for operating the cindering device at the will of the operator ofthe vehicle.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafter becomemore fully apparent from the following description of the drawings,which illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention, and wherein-Figure 1 is a side elevational view showing the cindering device mountedon a motor vehicle, a portion of which is shown in dotted lines,

Figure 2 is an enlarged cross sectional view of the same takensubstantially along the plane of the line 2--2 of Figure 1,

Figure 3 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view of a portion of thecindering device taken substantially along a plane indicated by the line3--3 of Figure 2,

Figure 4 is an enlarged detail vertical sectional view of a. portion ofthe cindering device taken substantially along a plane indicated by theline 4-4 of Figure 2, and

Figure 5 is a longitudinal horizontal sectional view showing a portionof a slightly modified conduit.

vend of the driving shaft of the engine I4 in a conventional manner, asillustrated in Figure l. The parts of the motor vehicle I0 which areillustrated in dotted lines in Figure 1, and which have heretofore beenenumerated, are included merely to illustrate the application of thecindering device, designated generally I9, and comprising the invention.

The cindering device I9 includes a hopper 20 which is preferably builtin as a part of the motor vehicle and which is mounted against andpartly above the rear end of the engine I4, as seen in Figure l.Referring to Figure 2, the hopper 20 is provided with a filling opening2| at its top adapted to be closed by a plug 22. A shaft 23 extendsthrough and is journaled in the upper part of the hopper 20. An arm 24is keyed to the shaft 23 and is disposed in the hopper 20 and isprovided with an enlarged head 25 at its free end. The top of the hopper20 is provided with a second opening 26 containing a removable plug 2lto which is connected one end of a chain or other flexible member 28,the opposite end ol' which is attached to the arm 24, adjacent its freeend. The hopper 20 is provided with a restricted lower end having twolaterally spaced discharge openings 29 and 3U. As seen in 'riguie l, theshaft 23 projects rearwardly from the hopper and is provided at its freeend with a pointer 3| which is disposed in the body of the vehicle I0,preferably in front of the dashboard, not shown, thereof. A conduit,designated generally 32, as best seen in Figure 2, is provided with anintermediate, substantially horizontal portion 33 which is disposedtransversely of the vehicle I0 and which is attached intermediate of itsends to the lower end of the hopper 20. The conduit 32 is provided withopenings 34 and 35 which register with the outlet openings 29 and 30,respectively, and the horizontal portion 33 is provided with dependingportions 36 and 31 at the ends thereof which extend downwardly throughthe running boards II and which are provided with open discharge ends 38which open below the running boards II and in front of and-in`longitudinal alinement with the rear wheels I2,

as seen in Figure 2.

To the undersides of the running boards II are attached boxes orchambers 39 and 40 by means of the fastenings 4 I, asbest seen in Figure2. The outlet end 38 of the conduit portion 36 extends through the boxor chamber 39, and the outlet end 38 of the conduit portion 31 extendsthrough the box 40. From each of the boxes 39 and 40 project pipes 42and 43 which communi'- cate with the interior of the boxes 39 and 40 andwhich extend upwardly along the conduit portions 36 and 31, as seen inFigures 1 and 2. A joint 44 is attach'ed to the return pipe of theheater I8 and is provided with a bifurcated end to each furcation ofwhich is attached a tube or hose 45. The opposite ends of the tubes 45connect with the upper ends of the pipes 42 of the boxes 39 and 49. Asimilar joint or coupling 46 is connected to the radiator I1 and to eachof the furcations of the bifurcated end thereof is attached a hose ortube 41. The opposite ends of the tubes 41 are attached to the upperends of the pipes 43.

In front of each of the boxes 39 and 40 is mounted a shield or flap 48,which flaps are attached to the undersides of the running boards II byfastenings 49. The flaps 48 project downwardly and rearwardly from therunning boards II and form shield-s for protecting the outlet ends 38from snow orslush thrown rearwardly and upwardly from the front wheelsI3 of the vehicle I9, one of which is shown at I3 in Figure 1.

Referring to Figures 2 and 3, an elongated block 58 is slidably mountedin the conduit portion 33, intermediate of the ends thereof, and beneaththe hopper outlets 29 and 30. The block 50 is only slightly smaller thanthe interior size of the conduit portion 33 to provide only sufcientclearance to allow the block 50 to slide freely therein. The block 50 isprovided with recessed ends forming upwardly opening pockets I and 52having corresponding bottoms 53, the outer ends of which taper inthickness, as indicated at 54. The pockets 5I and 52 are formed in theends of the block 59 so that said pockets open outwardly of the ends ofthe block as well as upwardly thereof and their bottoms 53 extend toadjacent the ends of the block 50. The distance between the adjacentinner ends of the pockets 5I and 52 is greater than the distance betweenthe remote portions of the openings 34 and 35 so that when the block 56is in an intermediate position, as seen in Figures 2 and 3, it will forma valve for closing both discharge openings of the hopper 20 to preventthe cinders 55, contained therein, from flowing into the conduit portion33. The sides of the pockets 5I and 52 are preferably provided withcut-out portions or openings 56.

The conduit portion 33 is provided with an elongated longitudinallyextending opening 51 in its underside and beneath the hopper 20 throughwhich loosely extends a pin or stud 58 the upper end of which isthreaded to engage a recess in the block 59 for deltachably connecting apin 58 thereto. e

A bracket 59 is connected by fastenings 60 to the conduit portion 33,adjacent its end 31 and is provided with a horizontally disposed portion6I which is disposed'beneath` and spaced from the conduit portion 33 andin which is journaled an upwardly projecting shaft 62 to which is conispivotally connected to the lowerend of the pin 58. A worm 66 has a shankend 61 journaled in an opening 68 in the depending portion of thebracket 59 and is disposed to mesh with the worm wheel 63.

Referring to Figure 1, an elongated bar 69 is mounted on the right handside of the engine I4 by means of brackets 18 and is provided with apair of upwardly projecting standards 1I having bearing portions forjournaling a shaft 12 which is rotatably mounted therein and which isheld against sliding movement relatively to the standards 1I by collars13. A pulley 14 is keyed to the shaft 12, between the standards 1I, andthe shaft I6, of the generator I5, is extended through the rear end ofthe generator and is provided with a pulley 15 which is belted to thepulley 14 by a belt`16. It will thus be seen that the shaft 12 will bedriven by the generator shaft I6 which in turn is driven in aconventional manner by means of a belt and pulley, as seen in Figure 1,from the crankshaft 11 of the engine I4. The means as illustrated inFigure 1 for driving the shaft '12 by power derived from the engine I4is only one means which might be employed, as the pulley 14 couldobviously be belted to the water pump, not shown, of the engine I4, ordirectly to the shaft 11 by moving the bar 69 forwardly.

The standards 1I are disposed adjacent the forward end of the bar 69 anda pair of spaced standards 18 project upwardly from the bar 69, adjacentits rear end, and are provided with alined bearing portions forjournaling a hollow 'shaft 19, which is held against sliding movement bymeans of collars 80. The rear end of the shaft 19 is connected to theworm 66 by means of a universal joint 8|. The shaft 18 is provided witha polygonal shaped bore in which is slidably mounted a similarly shapedshaft 82 which is held keyed to the shaft 19 by means of its polygonalcross sectional shape and the polygonal cross sectional shape of thebore of the shaft 19. The shaft 82 projects from the forward end of theshaft 19 and is provided with a collar 83 on its exposed portion,forwardly of which the shaft 62 is circular in cross section. To theforward-end of the yshaft 82 is keyed a friction clutch member 64including a disk 85 on the outer side of which is mounted a fiber disk86 which is attached tothe disk 85 by fastenings 81, which are disposedadjacent the periphery of the clutch element 84. To the rear end of theshaft 12 is keyed a disk shaped clutch element 88 which is smaller indiameter than the clutch element 84. A collar 89 is loosely mounted onthe round portion of the shaft 82, between the collar 83 and the -clutchelement 84 and is provided with a pin 90 for loosely engaging theslotted end 9I`oi.' a lever 92 which is pivotally mounted at 93,intermediate of its ends, on a short standard 94 which projects upwardlyfrom the bar 69, beneath the collar 89. To the lower end of the lever 92is connected one end of anexpansion coil spring 95 which projectsrearwardly and which is connected at its opposite end to one end of arearwardly extending cable 96, the opposite end of which is adapted toextend to adjacent the driver's seat of the vehicle,

not shown, so that the operator of the vehicle by pulling on the cable96 can move the shaft 82 forwardly to cause the clutch element 84 tofrictionally engage the clutch element 88. The spring 95 is provided toprevent the clutch element 84 from striking the clutch element 88 withtoo much force should the cable 96 be jerked too hard. .A secondcontractile coil spring 91 is attached at one end to the lever 92,adjacent its lower end, and at its opposite end to the underside of thebar 69, adjacent the forward end thereof, the spring 91 functioning -tonormally move the slotted end 9| of the lever 92 rearwardly to normallyhold the clutch element 84 out of engagement with the clutch element 88.

From the foregoing it will be obvious that the hot water from the waterjacket 98, which circulates through the heater I8, will also becirculated through the tubes 45 and the pipes 42 and into and throughthe boxes or chambers 39 and 40 for heating the outlet ends 38 of theconduit portions 36 and 3l so that ice, snow or slush cannot accumulatein and close the ends 38. The operator of the vehicle I by simplypulling on the cable 96 will move the clutch element 84 forwardly andinto frictional `engagement with the clutch element 68 so that the shaft'I2 which is being driven by the generator shaft I6, as previouslyexplained, will drive the shafts 82 and 'I9 to thereby revolve the worm66. The Worm wheel 63, being meshed with the worm 66 will be revolvedthereby to reciprocate the block 50 through the link connection 65 withthe stud 64 and pin 58. The block 60 is shown in its intermediateposition, and assuming that the worm wheel 63 is turning in a clockwisedirection, as seen in Figure 3, by moving a quarter of a vturn from itsposition, as seen in Figure 3, the block 50 will be moved toward theconduit portion 36 so that the pocket 52 will be beneath the Vhopperdischarge opening 30 so that cinders 55 can flow into the pocket 52. Asthe wheel 63 continues to turn in a clockwise direction, the block 50will move in the opposite direction or toward the conduit portion 31 toconvey the cinders in the pocket 52 toward the conduit portion 3l whileat the same time the pocket is moved to a position beneath the hopperdischarge opening 29 so that cinders 55 will flow into the pocket 5|. Asthis operation is repeated it will be obvious that the cinders 55 willbe accumulated in the ends of the conduit portion 33 and forced by theblock 50 therefrom into the depending conduit portions 36 and 3l throughwhich the cinders will flow by gravity and fall onto the surface overwhich the wheels of the vehicle are moving in front of and inlongitudinal alinement with the rear wheels I2, as indicated by thearrows 99, as seen in Figure 2. The block 50 thus not only forms a valvefor controlling the discharge openings of the hopper but also forms aplunger for intermittently and alternately forcing a quantity of cindersinto the conduit portions 36 and 3l. It will thus be obvious that whenthe cinders are dispensed from the outlets 38 they will be dispensed insuilicient quantities to provide ample traction for the rear wheels I2and not in such small amounts as to have little or no effect on thetractionof said wheels. The block 50 will be moved with suflicient speedthat as it reverses its direction of movement the cinders contained inthe pockets 5 I and 52 will slide therefrom so that the pockets will besubstantially empty when they move into positions beneath the dischargeopenings 29 and 30, respectively. The cut-out portions or openings 66 inthe sides of the pockets 5I and 52 also enable the cinders to morereadily escape therefrom.

The bar 69 is attached directly to the engine I4, on which the generatorI5 is mounted, so that the vibration of the engine II willl not vary therelative positions of the generator I5 and the shaft 12 so that thetension of the belt 'I6 will not vary. The universal joint 8l isprovided to accommodate for the relative vibration of the shaft 19relatively to the worm 66. As previously mentioned the hopper 20 engagesagainst the rear end of the engine I4 to keep the cinders 55 dry at alltimes, so that they will ow freely into and through the conduit 33 andits portions 36 and 31. The .head 25 of the arm 24 rests on the top ofthe cinders 55 and as the supply of' cinders diminishes the arm 24swings downwardly to cause the pointer 3I to turn to indicate the amountof cinders 55 remaining in the hopper 20. After the hopper 20 has beenrefilled, plug 21 is removed so that the chain 28 can be pulled- Variousmodifications and changes are contemplated and may obviously be resortedto, provided they fall within the spirit and scope of the invention ashereinafter dened by the appended claims, as only preferred embodimentsof the invention have been disclosed.

I claim as my invention:

1. A cindering device for motor vehicles comprising a hopper containingcinders and provided with two discharge openings in the bottom thereof,said hopper being disposed transversely to a motor vehicle on which itis mounted, a conduit attached to the bottom of the hopper and disposedtransversely of the vehicle into which said discharge openings o'pen,said conduit having depending portions at the ends thereof openingdownwardly in front of the rear wheels of the vehicle, a block slidablymounted in said conduit, beneath the hopper, and forming a valve forclosing the discharge openings thereof, power take-off means operated bythe engine of the vehicle for reciprocating said valve to alternatelyexpose said discharge openings for releasing the cinders alternatelyinto opposite ends of the conduit, and said valve forming means forpushing the cinders toward the ends of the first mentioned portion of:the conduit, so that the cinders will drop by gravity through thedepending end portions thereof.

2. A cindering device as in claim 1, comprising heating chamberssurrounding the lower, outlet ends of the depending portions o'f saidconduit, and pipes connecting said chambers to the water cooling systemof the engine whereby the water therefrom will be circulated throughsaid chambers for heating the outlet ends of the conduit.

3. A cindering device as in claim 1, said hopper being built in as apart of the motor vehicle and being disposed .against and partly overthe rear end of the engine thereof whereby the heat from the engine willkeep the contents of the hopper dry and hot.

4. A cindering device as in claim 1, said power takeoi! means includinga clutch adapted to be manually operated.

5. A device for providing traction for the wheels of a land vehiclecomprising a hopper adapted to contain an abrasive material, said hopperbeing provided with a discharge outlet in the bottom thereof, a conduitconnected to said hopper and into which said outlet opens, and valvemeans for controlling the discharge opening of the hopper andconstructed and arranged to alternately and intermittently convey theabrasive material from the hopper through the conduit toward points infront of the driving A wheels ot the vehicle.

' 6. A device for distributing an abrasive for the driving wheels of amotor vehicle comprising a hopper having discharge openings, a conduithaving an intermediateportion disposed beneath and communicating withsaid discharge openings and depending ends opening in front oi' thedriving wheels of the vehicle, a valve disposed in the intermediateportion of the conduit i'or controlling the ow of the contents of thehopper through said discharge openings, a stud connected to andprojecting downwardly `from said valve, an elongated slot in the bottomof said conduit in which said stud is slidablymounted, eccentric drivingmeans for said valve, a link connecting said eccentric driving means andstud for reciprocating said valve for alternately exposing saiddischarge openings, and said valve being provided with pockets in itsends for receiving the contents of the hopper from said dischargeopenings and for preventing said contents from/being discharged throughthe slot in the bottom of said conduit, said valve forming a plunger forforcing the contents of -the hopper towards the ends of the conduit.

7. An antiskid device for motor vehicles comprising a hopper adapted tocontain an abrasive and provided, with a outlet, means for controllingsaid outlet, power takeoi! means adapted to be driven by the prime moverof a motor vehicle on which the device is mounted, said power takeoiimeans being connected to and actuating said ilrst mentioned means, aclutch associated with the power takeoff means and which is operable fordisengaging the power takeotl' means from the prime mover, a conduit forreceiving the abrasive from the hopper, and conveying means disposed inthe conduit and actuated by the power takeoi means for conveying theabrasive through the conduit.

JAMES G. WILSON-

